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High-temperature magnetostructural transition in van der Waals-layered a-MoCl3
- Source :
- Phys. Rev. Materials 1, 064001 (2017)
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- The crystallographic and magnetic properties of the cleavable 4d3 transition metal compound a-MoCl3 are reported, with a focus on the behavior above room temperature. Crystals were grown by chemical vapor transport and characterized using temperature dependent x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and magnetization measurements. A structural phase transition occurs near 585 K, at which the Mo-Mo dimers present at room temperature are broken. A nearly regular honeycomb net of Mo is observed above the transition, and an optical phonon associated with the dimerization instability is identified in the Raman data and in first-principles calculations. The crystals are diamagnetic at room temperature in the dimerized state, and the magnetic susceptibility increases sharply at the structural transition. Moderately strong paramagnetism in the high-temperature structure indicates the presence of local moments on Mo. This is consistent with results of spin-polarized density functional theory calculations using the low- and high-temperature structures. Above the magnetostructural phase transition the magnetic susceptibility continues to increase gradually up to the maximum measurement temperature of 780 K, with a temperature dependence that suggests two-dimensional antiferromagnetic correlations.
- Subjects :
- Condensed Matter - Materials Science
Condensed Matter - Other Condensed Matter
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- arXiv
- Journal :
- Phys. Rev. Materials 1, 064001 (2017)
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsarx.1711.02708
- Document Type :
- Working Paper
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.1.064001